Over the past two decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth, which has also brought about a rise in social and economic inequality. A nation that once operated under the principle of egalitarianism, China now struggles with a level of inequality that has surpassed most of its East Asia neighbours. In the 1980’s, poverty was a problem restricted mainly to rural areas, but recently it has forayed into urban areas as well. Since the mid-1990’s, urban poverty has grown at a very fast pace under the influence of globalization (Fulong, Webster, and Yuting 5). The economic restructuring of China is a huge contributor to this phenomenon. The Chinese government officially recognized urban poverty as a problem in 2001 through a report prepared by the State Council (Fulong, Webster, and Yuting 15). The report was also an acknowledgement that the nation faced a new challenge on the implementation of social policies.
Urban poverty arises from changes in the institutional models of crucial consumption areas such as housing, healthcare, and education combined with loss of urban space rights that occur during land appropriation. Despite the economic progress that China continues to experience, some negative externalities have arisen. The income gap continues to widen, there is a reduction in social welfare, and unemployment is on the rise (Fulong, Webster, and Yuting 21). There has been a surge in urban poor whose primary composition is unemployed individuals, laid-off workers, urban migrants, and retired labourers. The violation of their civil rights and the government’s inability to remedy the social problems in their areas further aggravates their economic inadequacy (Fei 17).
The urban poor in China are categorized into two: the o...
... middle of paper ...
... will fiercely fight against an increase in their contribution.
The leadership in China faces a huge challenge on how to steer the nation as it transitions from an investment and export driven economy to a consumption-driven one. The pledge to shift from emphasis in GDP growth to people–oriented growth requires development of target policies that are inclusive of all people’s needs, both rural and urban. It should establish a resource framework that focuses on social welfare programs such as healthcare and education which will empower the urban poor and reduce inequality. Beijing should strive to ensure its implementation of the 12th FYP goes on successfully; so far, its approach to boosting consumption has been quite successful. The transformative nature of this plan could be the key to tackling the rapidly growing problem of urban poverty and inequality in China.
Programs such as collectivization and land reformation were essentially a microcosm of Mao's impact on China. Under the policy of collectivization, the government promoted cooperative farming and redistributed the land on the principle that the product of labor could be better distributed if the la...
New York City is claimed to be one of the greatest cities in the world. Many are blinded by the breathtaking skyline, the endless opportunities, and the hustle and bustle of the streets. As one of the economic capitals of the world, it is surprising to hear that about 30 percent of children currently residing in New York City are living in poverty (Cheney). New York City has evolved into a city for the wealthy by eliminating inexpensive housing and jobs, forcing many families to the streets (Elliot). Many are unaware of how prevalent child poverty is. To raise awareness, the New York Times did a series of articles that followed the life of a young girl named Dasani. The article highlights the brilliance that Dasani had at such a young age and emphasizes the everyday struggles that she had to face growing up as a child in poverty. Some ways that can lower the amount of child poverty is through after school programming and through work-for-rent housing.
By 1980, although the birthrate in China has fallen to below 3 children per family, it was believed by a new regime of Chinese leaders which included Deng Xiao Ping, that forced and restricted population growth would lead to greater economic prosperity. This coercive policy influenced the family of the Chinese citize...
Yang, D 1996, Calamity and reform in China: state, rural society, and institutional change since the great leap famine, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
Poverty in Developing and Less Developed Countries The world includes less developed countries and developing countries. Less developed countries are countries considered to be poor and often contain many people who are in absolute poverty. Developing countries are countries like India, which are gaining in wealth. There are two types of poverty within the world.
...by preventing access to potential places of employment and to positive network influences. Therefore, to solve the growing problem of jobless poverty the government should look towards developing mixed-use developments without strict zoning laws and increasing the public transportation infrastructures in cities.
From the 1970s, there has been a wave of liberalization in China, which was introduced by Deng Xiaoping. This is one of the key reasons to the rise of China to be one of the economic giants in the world. In the last 25 years of the century, the Chinese economy has had massive economic growth, which has been 9.5 percent on a yearly basis. This has been of great significance of the country since it quadrupled the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country thus leading to saving of 400 million of their citizens from the threats of poverty. In the late 1970s, China was ranked twentieth in terms of trade volumes in the whole world as well as being predicted to be the world’s top nation concerning trading activities (Kaplan, 53). This further predicted the country to record the highest GDP growth in the whole world.
The Trickle-down theory, a well-known theory in fashion industry, has significant meaning in 19th to 20th century Europe. The American economist and sociologist, Veblen, published The theory of the Leisure Class by 1899, in which he discussed the split between the leisure class and the industrial class in the US critically. He concluded that leisure class treats dress as a sign of their status and possessions, furthermore, ‘Dress must not only be conspicuously expensive and inconvenient; it must at the same time be up to date’(Veblen 1994), by saying that, he refers to upper class was tend to create new fashion trend which was the top of the trickle-down theory. In the 20th century, Simmel, the German sociologist and philosopher, developed this theory further from a more sympathetic perspective. He drew much attention to sameness and difference amongst both classes in his book Fashion (Simmel 1973). The upper class gets self-satisfied and the proof of its priority by distinguishing itself from others, and working class follows the fashion trend which led by upper class in order to feel like he or she is ‘belonging to’ higher class. These opinions which were discussed by Veblen and Simmel were coined by a journalist in the mid-20th century, as ‘Trickle- down Theory’. During mid-18th to early 20th century, the trickle-down theory described the process of how fashion flows, and explains that fashion is a cultural and sociological phenomenon which includes the discourse of identity and uniformity, agency and structuralism. This phenomenon was not limited by geography, at the same period, in the other side of the world, similar situation happened in China which is a typical East Asian country....
Second, overpopulation leads to the result of a rather low SOL( Standard of Living) in China. SOL means GDP per person, and it is an important index of the real national economic status. Although China makes great economic achievements and improvements every year, the economic achievements is not that glorious when divided by the large denominator of population. B...
This model reflects the current position of China 's development showing that it in fact is a credible model of development. This model splits the economy into a low productivity rural section and a high productivity industrial sector. This model focuses more on the distribution of resources, peoples life chances, and why development is expected to be different in certain places. This model allows people to understand that even within one country, development is not equal for all. This model shows the inequalities in development, where there are still people who depend on agriculture for their livelihood, while the industrial sector expands and grows offering up jobs and a great chance for economic growth. Here it is seen that development does not help out those in the agricultural sector but as seen in present day, the Chinese manufacturing sector has successfully grown into a contending player in international trade (Welker, 2012). Therefore Rostow should not limit his model by making everything equal for all, as it is seen that countries develop unevenly, with aspects of ideologies such as socialism, or they skip stages all together making his model seem less
When the new Chinese Government was set up in 1949, the new government faced a lot of problems. First on their agenda was how to re-build the country. As Communist Party of China (CPC) is a socialist party, their policies at the time were similar to that of the Soviet Union’s. Consequently, the CPC used a centrally planned strategy as its economic strategy when it first began. For a long time, the Chinese economy was a centrally planned economy in which none other than the state owned all companies. In fact, there were absolutely no entrepreneurs. As time went on, the problems of a centrally planned economy started to appear, such as low productivity, which was the key reason for restricting the development of China. With the population growing, the limitations of the centrally planned economy were clear. In 1978 China started its economic reform whose goal was to generate sufficient surplus value to finance the modernization of the Chinese economy. In the beginning, in the late 1970s and early 19...
Finally, the United States political system has a strong structural structure but in China their people always work together to be the best and stand out in the world. It is predicted that China will one day be the largest economy-growing country in the world. They continually grow and rebalance their world to be the best. The growth of the economy will depend on the Chinese government's comprehensive economic reforms that more quickly accelerate China's transition to a free market economy. Consumer demand, rather than exporting, is the main engine of economic growth; boost productivity and innovation; address growing income disparities; and enhance environmental protection.
Having thrown open its doors to capitalist investment and expanded at a miraculous rate over the past three decades, China has now surpassed Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world. Since the early 1980s, China's economy has metamorphosed from a centrally planned syst...
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Poverty in the Philippines The rich, the middle class, and the poor are described by the way we live and the amount of money one has. There are many different ways of describing what poverty is, whether it is by how you live or how much money you have. What is poverty and what does it mean to be poor? Not many of us know the true meaning of these terms.